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If you’ve decided to sell your house with the help of a realtor, here is an essential checklist to make sure your house shows well! – Checklist for Selling With a Realtor

When selling through a realtor there is no overstating how important it is to help a home shopper decide that your house is move-in ready, will look great to their friends, is spacious, and easy to live in. Those qualities bring in offers sooner and make buyers more willing to pay a good price.

 

Here’s a quick checklist of to-do’s to help your house show its best:

 

• Clean up all junk and remove trash and clutter. Random stuff gives the impression the house isn’t well-maintained or clean. Of course, clearing it can be especially difficult if you no longer see the clutter that has been there for months or years. But what is “clutter” to you is “trash” to a home shopper.

 

• Make rooms open and inviting. Remove furniture down to just a few pieces per room. Rooms over-stuffed with furniture appear smaller, not adequate for the home-buyer’s own furniture. A home shopper should be able to walk through without having to navigate around one table and footstool after another.

 

• Fresh paint is cheap and goes a long way. Wall paint creates an immediate impression that influences everything else the home-shopper sees. It should not appear dingy and old. And, the painting will also relieve many smells ingrained in the old paint.

 

• A deep professional cleaning goes farther than you think. It may look ‘ok’ to you, and who will notice a few specks of lint and dust? There is no knowing that a home-shopper is hyper-sensitive to cleanliness, or thinking about a family member’s allergies. Cleaning removes smells, as well.

 

• Get rid of all smells that are not pleasant. If you have pets, you do have smells. You may need a neighbor or the realtor to tell you about smells if you’ve become accustomed to them. Do research on smell-removal techniques and even get professional help to clear away old, lingering smells from pets, cooking, crafts, stored items, and especially smoking.

 

• “Staging” rooms with furniture and just the right touch of décor is a great strategy for appealing to home shoppers. Look through lifestyle magazines and watch HGTV for ideas. Don’t overdo it, though, and definitely let your realtor and even a professional stager guide you!

 

Home-buyers don’t just evaluate the financials and school districts! Often the final decision is an emotional one, choosing the house that appealed to them the most. Make your house attractive by reducing the negatives and enhancing the positives, and you’ll attract better offers, and sooner!

 

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Question or Prompt for Response – open-ended, relevant

What appeals to you the most when you visit someone’s home – décor; cleanliness; space; or something else?

 

Call to Action

Do you have real estate (house, lot, or land) you’d like to sell fast?  Fill out our Sell Fast Form and get a cash offer within one hour of us viewing the property. https://patient-liger-dev.10web.site/sell-house-quick/we-buy-homes-bring-us-a-deal/

Clearing out your junk is a tiresome but very important part of attracting offers when selling your house through a realtor. Closets need to look tidy and spacious, as if a family easily fits in this house! The yard needs to be un-cluttered, and extra boxes and furniture stuffing the rooms have to go.

 

Most people don’t realize just how much space in their house is being absorbed by stuff they will never use again. Use the method below on clothing, paperwork, old homework, toys, tools, appliances – everything stored in your house, garage and shed.

 

Tackle separately each closet and cupboard, each area of the basement and/or attic, each box sitting in a corner without a proper spot, each kitchen cabinet – everything in the house, actually.

 

• First make a large, clear space where you can put every item you pull out and have a clear view of each. It’s helpful to put a sheet or table cover down to make smaller items more visible. In bedrooms, the top of a made bed works well.

 

• Remove each and every item from the storage area, be it closet, cabinet, box, etc. Put each item down in your viewing area.

 

• Items that are currently in use – that is, someone has used them in the last few weeks or months (just thinking of using them does *not* count) – can be put aside to be returned to the closet or storage at the end.

 

• Here’s the critical step that will free up space you never knew you had – Every item that has not been used recently must pass this test before it can be returned to your storage.
  • The test is answered with ‘yes’ or ‘no’, and only 100% ‘yes’ answers pass!
  • All items that flunk must be put into the donation box, never to be looked at again!

 

• Here’s the test:
  • § If the item is clothing or a wear-able such as shoes or a coat, does it still fit someone in the house who will wear it?
  • § Do you have a specific near-future event, with a date, when you will use this item? A place to wear the clothing; a time you will use the barbeque pit?
  • § In the past few months, have you thought about wearing or using this item – but didn’t – because it was out of style, unsuitable, or for any other reason?

 

Only 100% ‘yes!’ answers are keepers in your household! If times have changed but the item has not, it is unlikely to ever be used, no matter how good it looks. It’s time to let it move on so you can move on as well!

 

To prepare your house for a realtor sale, or before moving, or just when you need the space, diligently performing this exercise is better than continuing to waste space on things you will never use again!

 

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Question or Prompt for Response – open ended, relevant

Do you have areas of storage in your home that you haven’t looked at in a long time?

 

Call to Action

Do you have real estate (house, lot, or land) you’d like to sell fast?  Fill out our Sell Fast Form and get a cash offer within one hour of us viewing the property. https://patient-liger-dev.10web.site/sell-house-quick/we-buy-homes-bring-us-a-deal/

My recent blog post “Top 10 Reasons to Sell Your Home Without a Realtor” gives a tongue-in-cheek rundown of the practical inconveniences you can avoid by not taking the traditional route of marketing a move-in-ready home through a realtor – everything from confining rebellious pets to keeping your cupboards neat and tidy to removing your extra furniture.

Here are 4 compelling financial reasons selling your home to a cash buyer beats going through a realtor:

• No commissions – You can lower the price and increase your takeaway at the same time.  The standard 6% realtor commission on a $200,000 home is $12,000 – what buyer wouldn’t be thrilled to split that with you!

• No repairs, updating or upgrading – The house has been fine for you and your family for years, but the home-buyers working with realtors have something fresher in mind. When listing through a realtor you can lay out gobs of cash and take the time to do the work, or you can have the realtor list it as-is and risk having no offers, or dealing with offers wanting price concessions.

• No complicated realtor offers asking for price concessions – What you don’t update or fix, the buyer’s realtor and inspector will spot. Negotiating an offer, perhaps more than one, with various requests for discounts to upgrade the carpet, re-paint, replace the hot water heater and so on can be confusing and frustrating.

• Time is money – How long before you will get an offer you can live with? When can you make an offer on your next house? While your house sits on the market, rising or falling prices affect the affordability of both this home and your next one. Interest rate changes can have major effect on your strategy.

Cash and time are two of the most important reasons for selling your house fast to a cash buyer, as-is, and avoiding a long journey through the traditional realtor sales channel. Realtors have their place, but you do have alternatives that may work far better to sell your current house and move on to the next one.

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Question or Prompt for Response – open ended, relevant

Would you rather sell for cash without investing your own money into preparing your house for marketing, or would you prefer to do the work and sell it through a realtor?

Call to Action

Do you have real estate (house, lot, or land) you’d like to sell fast?  Fill out our Sell Fast Form and get a cash offer within one hour of us viewing the property. https://patient-liger-dev.10web.site/sell-house-quick/we-buy-homes-bring-us-a-deal/